Bootcamp
by Yukitsu
Summary: [Under revision] AU. Shuichi is a regular highschool teenager with a regular family. One day, Shuichi gets sent to Bootcamp.


**Bootcamp**

by Yukitsu

_Disclaimers_: Yu Yu Hakusho is not mine, and it will never be.

I have decided that, as Bootcamp was one of my more popular fanfics, and because I remember enjoying myself when I wrote this some year's back, it deserves an edit. As with Blood of Confusion, my AU HxH fanfic, this is also an attempt to remain productive even through the lull between Freiraum, my original fiction collaboration with Ravenel, and it's chapters.

_I'm not changing anything much – mostly just correcting grammatical errors and adjusting stuff to fit the still-unfinished plot_. What's more, this is also an attempt to voice out much of my disdain for the Mary Sues and Marty Stus floating around my first and still-favorite fandom.

* * *

**Prologue**

_Take away.

* * *

_

"Shuichi, dear," Shiori called, hurriedly walking down the stairs, clasping her purse shut and slipping a black blazer on. There was a clatter as her make up kit fell don and scattered, and she bent to hurriedly pick everything up even before Shuichi could process what had happened. Fast.

"Yes, mother," he replied instead, looking up and blinking at from the magazine he had been browsing through along with his breakfast.

"I'll be going now. I have a meeting," she explained in a rush, snapping her earrings on and slinging the small bag over her shoulder whilst making a quick trot for the door.

"All right. Be careful, Mother," Shuichi bade. He got up, kissed his mother's cheeks, and ushered her out. Shiori kissed him on the cheek back, slipped her shoes on, and practically dashed out of the door. Shuichi sighed and sat back down the kitchen table. The whole process had taken her five minutes, from when she made her way down the stairs, whilst bathing had taken her half an hour. Strange people, humans were.

He forked his pancake and chewed it noiselessly, savoring the taste the sweet, sticky honey provided. It was better, sometimes, to ignore little questions like that.

Shuichi was completely and utterly alone in the house. His step-father was in his office, his step-brother was at a friend's house (without permission), and his mother was out. What was a completely bored teenager like him to do when school just ended and there wasn't anything to occupy himself with. It was probably the aftermath of all the ecstasy following the end of the school year. He had, quite literally, spent the past two days like a zombie, dazed and with nothing to put his energies to use.

Shuichi Minamino twirled his long hair with his finger. He didn't really take to people who liked playing with his hair, but that didn't mean that he couldn't play with it when brooding. At least _he_ knew how to play with it properly, and didn't pull unnecessarily.

He sighed. It was time to call a few friends, if he was thinking on the dynamics of hair-twirling and the like. Maybe one of them would be nice enough to come over and keep him company. He got up and put the dishes away, leaving the cleaning for later. As he was proceeding to the phone, a stiff, abrupt knock sounded on the door. Shuichi raised an eyebrow, backtracked, and headed for it.

"Yes?" he asked politely as he opened said entryway.

"I am a soldier of the Japanese Army. Your father has sent a message to us requesting for your attendance in our training that will commence from tomorrow until exactly two months from now," an abrupt, somewhat harsh greeting met him. Shuichi blinked a few times.

"You must have the wrong address. I don't think my father will send me off to boot camp," Shuichi protested. The horror! Boot camp!

"You are Shuichi Minamino, son of Shiori Minamino?" the soldier demanded, his ensemble amusingly complete from boots to helmet. The amusement was lost on the redheaded teenager, however.

"Er… Yes," Shuichi replied uneasily.

"Then I have the right place, and you are to come with me."

"When?" Shuichi finally inquired respectfully, not wanting to anger the uptight soldier even if he himself was nearing the limits of his temper. The shock was fading away, followed by confusion and some deep, bubbling anger at the back of his head. Surely his own parents wouldn't have forgotten to tell him something as important as sending him off to boot camp!

"Immediately, soldier!" was the harsh command. The anger fled from his mind at the new shock.

"But I haven't packed yet!" Shuichi protested, giving the other man an incredulous look.

"I had been informed by my superiors that you are to come with me at once without further delays. Your things, personal or not, will come from us. Everything has been indemnified for you and your stay."

"Everything?" Shuichi echoed uncertainly.

"Everything."

"I see." Shuichi needed to stall for time, at least until he could call his step father or his mother to ask what was going on. Like… right now?

"Let's go, Minamino," the messenger demanded, in the verge of turning around.

"But please, let me know your name first," Shuichi finally said in desperation.

"Koenma Daioh, Camp Yu Yu Hakusho head medical officer," the apparently lower ranking officer replied curtly. A few brown strands of his hair peeked from beneath his helmet.

"I see. I'm Minamino Shuichi," the confused teenager muttered, even if he knew Koenma was aware who he was anyway. Why in the world was he being sent to a boot camp, of all places? Did his stepfather finally think that he was too girlish for the family's good? Hmph!

"Let's go," Koenma repeated with a severe frown.

"All right," Shuichi said, nodded sedately when he realized that unless he mauled Koenma, he wouldn't be able to get his self out of the current predicament. What in the world was his stepfather thinking? That he needed training?

_Well, if that's the case, I'll just have to prove to my masculinity to my father_. It wasn't as if he had a choice, anyway.

He got in the waiting military jeep, strapped himself in, and let the stiff youth beside him take him away to the start of an interesting summer.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_Getting Acquainted.

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_

"Alright. Cadets, introduce yourselves," their platoon commander, Raizen, commanded curtly. The said cadets, already in formation, stiffened up and yelled their names out one by one, from the tallest to the shortest. Never mind that they had no idea how it actually went.

"Kuwabara Kazuma," a muscled, orange haired teenager boomed out. Shuichi waited patiently as three more cadets took their turns before stiffening and taking a quick, deep breath.

"Shuichi Minamino," he yelled in his deepest and loudest voice, cringing at the result. He sighed inwardly when the seemingly harsh commander didn't complain about his introduction. At least something was going right for that day, though a good massage sometime around now would be good too.

"Yusuke Urameshi, sir!" a cocky voice went next after sometime. Shuichi waited for a while. When no one followed, he assumed that the Urameshi fellow was the last and he stopped counting at twenty. Apparently, he thought wrong.

"Hiei Jaganashi," a deep voice rumbled. It hadn't been said out loud, but it had carried out past the whole platoon to Raizen anyway. Shuichi reckoned that was how real cadets should say things.

"Alright," the gruff-looking platoon commander boomed, "That's a good start, cadets. Now you people must know the rules. No breaking them or punishment for you, understand?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the newly appointed cadets answered simultaneously. They had been taught the basics the first hour of their stay, even though they were still in their civilian clothes and even though most of them looked harassed from the trip going there. After Shuichi had been fetched, Koenma had taken him around the city fetching more teenagers for the camp. He had around eight companions with him, all of them already looking exhausted. Koenma mentioned that everybody was going to be fetched the same way, by other officers.

"The SOP's will be listed outside your barracks. Your new clothes and uniforms will be at your appointed beds. Since it's just the first day, you can do whatever you want now. We will be starting your rigorous training tomorrow at six hundred hours. Understood?" he snapped.

"Sir, yes, sir!" the platoon chorused.

"Dismissed." The cadets swiftly about-faced and scattered. The three other platoons -- Genbu, Seiyuu, and Byako -- also dispersed as their respective commanders dismissed them. The cadets from Suzaku started mingling with cadets from other platoons, while Shuichi went straight to his platoon quarters.

He hurriedly went inside the long house, looked over the card given to him by Koenma before, and looked for his part of the room. It was the side with the windows, which probably was to his benefit. If his companions got musty like they were wont to be as men, he would always have a supply of fresh air.

"Shuichi Minamino, Suzaku under Raizen, Barracks One, Bed Five," he muttered to himself. He turned around to face one set of beds, counted carefully, spotted the portion of bed, and directly went there--

only to find another person occupying it.

"Excuse me. I think I'm the one assigned to this bed." Shuichi told the short, dark haired guy stretched out on his space. Vaguely, Shuichi was thankful the guy – kid? -- looked clean.

"Hn. Go somewhere else," the other grunted, opening an eye. Shuichi blinked and raised an eyebrow. Definitely of his age.

"I'm supposed to use that bed. I don't think we're allowed to switch, and at any rate, I'd rather not get in trouble with the higher ups."

"Don't be a sissy and leave me alone," the short guy snorted, still nonchalantly ignoring him.

Shuichi's eyebrow climbed an inch higher into his hairline, and he wondered why the malicious gods above found fun in his pain. "Look here. This is the bed assigned to me, and I have every intention of keeping it mine. Now, would you kindly get off it," he bit out. From the corner of his eyes, he saw his baggage beside the bed, which further proved that it was indeed his place.

The teenager Shuichi now recognized as Hiei – the voice carried like none of the platoon members he remembered -- opened both his eyes. "I said, leave me alone."

"Really, Jaganashi. If you want to be left alone so badly, then I think staying in the YOUR own bed would do you a lot of good. After all, being the last cadet of our platoon, you're supposed to have the last bed," the redhead said sweetly, gesturing at the bed at the far end of the room.

Hiei growled, and less than a second later found Shuichi being pulled by his hair towards him.

"Don't push me," Hiei said threateningly, voice rumbling deep from the back of his throat.

Shuichi glared at him evenly. Hiei was fast. So fast that by the time Shuichi was done processing the thought, Hiei had already grabbed him by one of his forelocks.

"Then leave me be at MY assigned space," Shuichi retorted, managing to suppress his wince when the grip tightened.

"Hn." Hiei tugged at the red locks again before letting go. He hopped off the bed and stomped off to his own.

"Thank you!" Shuichi called after him, massaging his scalp where the guy had pulled his hair. "Jerk"

He supposed Hiei couldn't really help but like his bed. It was one of the few between windows, so it wasn't too bright, but it wasn't too dark either. The other ones with similar places already had bulky bags plopped down on them. His bed had been temptation number one.

Good bed or no, it wasn't an excuse to pick a fight with a fellow cadet on the first day of camp. He guessed Hiei Jaganashi could act his height after all.

* * *

Edit: 3:11 PM 6/9/2005 


End file.
